Tweet Sometimes I think I was born in the wrong place. Not that Hawaii isn’t a magical place to be raised. But when I first traveled to Europe for the first time, I felt more at home than I did when I went to Japan. Maybe this is why I find myself drooling over Enchanting Paris: The Hedonist’s Guide. The multitude of cathedrals, the cultural symbolism, and history dripping within its architecture fills me with enviable joy. It reminds me that I am a writer who lives for romantic places and whimsy. Even if real life is too harsh and practical,…
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Tweet It’s a story I seldom tell, but needs to be told… I got a degree in English, but never believed I could actually make a profession out of it so I squandered those early years taking whatever job looked intriguing and didn’t require experience. Every afternoon, I’d pull out the jobs section of the newspaper and became everything from an usher to a research assistant and even a private investigator. Looking back, there were oodles of gems to pull from. All those late nights with my homemade burrito wrapped in foil surveying the area for criminal activity or working…
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Tweet I found about a couple of hundred dollars on my laptop. What I discovered while scrolling through my past documents were raw and unpublished essays, poems, and articles. Some were there because I submitted them once and after a single rejection, completely abandoned it. Others were unfinished. I realized after further inspection that what I had was a treasure trove of potential. Some pieces only required a little TLC in order to become publishable. How about you? Have you taken a look at your old documents lately? Could they been dusted off, reworked, re-envisioned and resubmitted? After spending time looking for different…
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Tweet For a few years now, my husband told me. My business coach did too. Everyone told me I was wasting my time on paid writing work that didn’t fill my soul. But it’s hard when you’re freelancing and getting paid. It’s hard to say, “No” when you don’t know when your next big check will come in. But these were the first two signs. Another one had come years before. Several years ago, I received a handful of Steven Pressfield’s book. I quickly devoured The War of Art, but it was only when I got into Turning Pro that my life changed dramatically.…
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Tweet Brené Brown is an expert on everything related to vulnerability. I’ve taken two of her online courses and listened to her SoundsTrue podcast recently. I’m admittedly a big huge fan. Perhaps, it’s because I’m all too familiar with shame. It sits on my shoulder every time I publish a post, conduct a workshop/meetup or submit my writing. Until I listened to Brown, I hadn’t realized how my cheeks would burn or how embarrassed I was to let my insides show. Rejection to me doesn’t feel uncomfortable. It feels like a slow death. It’s an end of who I am. It’s a room…
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Tweet It’s taken me years to curate enough courage to admit the secret I’ve always known. It was evident in my early obsessions-well-worn books, hardcovers and paperbacks causing a backpack strap indention in my shoulders. It explained why I begged my grandmother for a typewriter and ripped away the crisp holiday paper as if there was a toy underneath. I devoured the book catalog we got in school as if it were a menu, salivating as I thumbed through each delicious page. And while other kids played sports or with their Barbie, I found calm in the click of my…
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Tweet After I got my second degree (my first was a BA in English and then a MA in Counseling Psychology), I reached an inevitable confusion spurred from a lifetime of being a professional student. It was 2006 and I had suddenly wakened from my reverie. I spent most of my twenties sitting down in the career section of Borders thumbing through guides with titles like, What to Do With Your Life. And now that school was over and my pocketbook showed no chance of going back, I realized it was time to finally answer that question for myself. In…
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Tweet {by guest blogger Cathy Miller} I cherished my sister’s Nancy Drew books. Like so many things in a family of seven children, the books I loved were hand-me-downs. Okay, to be honest, they were never mine. But, I read them from cover to cover and back again. I think it was then I realized I wanted to write. To say there were a few twists in my journey is putting it mildly. Doomed From the Womb I am the middle child of those seven, and the first born under insurance. Little did I know that sealed my fate. I…
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Tweet When I wrote this list of easy ways I increased my chance to freelance writing success, I neglected something BIG. In fact, it was the number one thing that helped launch my career. And the fastest. Just this past March, I wrote about how I was on the fence about this one. Looking back, I’m patting myself on the back and singing my “hallelujahs” because had I not done so, I might be singing a whole different tune today. How I Became the Lone Wolf When I started freelancing about four years ago, I was way behind the pack.…
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Tweet Okay, I’ve been keeping a secret for WAY too long. It’s been eating me up inside… But I think I can finally share at least one of them. Here’s what it’s not… I didn’t write a book. {Though I hope one day I can reveal a secret like that one.} I’m not quitting freelancing. I don’t have a TV or a book deal. {In my dreams, lol.} I didn’t get an article in Real Simple or Whole Living {Another few I would go crazy happy for.} I didn’t win an award for my writing. {Aw shucks, this is getting…